


Sunflower

by i_saw_sparks



Category: Big Time Rush RPF
Genre: Anniversary, F/M, Fluff, Kid!Fic, Love, Marriage, Parents, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 06:58:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_saw_sparks/pseuds/i_saw_sparks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunflowers turn to follow the sun, conveying warmth and happiness, adoration and longevity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunflower

The morning sun seeped through the blinds, its warmth falling in beams against Logan’s fair skin as he began to stir from his sleep. As he shifted onto his side to evade the blinding rays, a groggy groan pushed its way past his lips. With his eyes still clenched shut, a hand reached out, fumbling along the stretch of mattress at his side as he searched for the warmth of her body. It wasn’t until then that he heard the familiar sound of her voice echoing from the next room, a faint smile forming on his lips as he let his head sink back into the pillow, listening to her sing.  
  
 _“I’ve got so much honey the bees envy me. I’ve got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees.”_  
  
Kandi was by no means a great singer, but that fact never seemed to keep her from belting out whatever tune happened to be stuck in her head. In the shower, in the car, even picking up groceries at the supermarket, anything could provoke a song, but Logan never seemed to mind because he knew that when she was singing, she was happy.  
  
As was the case with this particular morning, she especially enjoyed singing while she was cooking.  
  
 _“Well, I’d guess you’d say what could make me feel this way…”_  
  
Another all-too-familiar voice piped up, the little boy’s voice more of an outburst than a melody. _“My girl!”_  
  
 _“My girl.”  
  
“My girl!”_  
  
 _“Talkin’ ‘bout my girl,”_ she continued before their serenade dissolved into laughter.  
  
Logan couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he stretched out the exhausted muscles in his arms and legs, his deep brown eyes focused on the blank white ceiling above him. His lashes fluttered against his skin as he struggled to blink the sleep from his eyes, but on the inside, he couldn’t deny the nervous excitement that coursed through his veins as he wondered what sort of surprise the two of them had in store for him.  
  
It wasn’t until he sat up in bed that he noticed the bouquet of flowers resting on the pillow beside him. Their dark centers tilted towards his side of the bed, and Logan let his fingers skim across the vibrant yellow petals. Before he had a chance to examine the flowers any further, he realized that he had company.  
  
“Morning sleepyhead,” she teased him as she stepped into the bedroom. “We thought you’d never wake up.”  
  
Logan ran a hand through his disheveled espresso locks, offering her a sheepish grin in response.  
  
Her lips curved into a half-smile as she placed the breakfast tray in his lap.  
  
“Now Eben, don’t you have something to say?” she prompted the four-year-old as he eased out from behind her frame. His coffee-colored eyes glanced up to his mother’s for approval, and her teeth gnawed at her lower lip, biting back her grin as she gave him a quick nod.  
  
“Happy anniversary,” his lips fumbled over the unfamiliar word, the southern twang in his voice tugging at the vowels in a way that was undeniably adorable.  
  
Logan’s gaze drifted to Kandi’s for a moment before the inevitable proud grin erupted across his features.  
  
“Thank you, little dude,” he replied enthusiastically as he reached forward to ruffle his son’s head full of chestnut curls. Logan inched over in bed to make room for Eben, patting the sheets beside him. “Hop in.”  
  
He did as he was told, climbing into bed beside his dad, a mischievous grin bringing out the dimples in his cheeks.  
  
Kandi joined them, settling onto the space on the other side of the mattress as she placed the flowers on the nightstand. “Surprised?” she asked, raising her eyebrow as she grabbed her coffee mug from the breakfast tray.  
  
“Totally,” he admitted as he passed Eben the small plate of silver dollar pancakes along with a napkin that he knew the boy would never use. In all honesty, Logan had lost track of the date, so waking up to breakfast in bed with his family was a pleasant surprise. Luckily, he’d already picked up a gift for his wife a few weeks ago. Somehow, he’d managed to keep it hidden under the bed all this time, disguised well enough for her not to stumble across it beforehand.  
  
“Good.” She smiled to herself as she began to delve into her own breakfast. She’d made the two of them blueberry pancakes, a food that had a bit of a sentimental meaning between the pair. When they’d first moved in together, Logan had always given her hell because the only thing she could successfully cook was pancakes. Kandi tried to switch it up by making every type of pancake imaginable, but during those first few months, they’d ate the breakfast meal so often that they grew sick of them.  
  
These days, pancakes were reserved only for special occasions.  
  
Always alert, her honey-brown eyes darted towards Eben, watching as he wolfed down the syrup-coated miniature buttermilk pancakes in his lap. “Be careful, sweetie,” she spoke up. “You don’t want to mess up your school clothes.”  
  
For a moment, the preschooler ate noticeably more slowly, but it didn’t take long for him to forget his mother’s warning. It was a battle that neither of his parents felt like fighting, so they just let it be.  
  
“Hope you don’t mind the flowers,” Kandi continued after taking a bite of her pancakes. “The florist said sunflowers were for third wedding anniversaries, plus I figured as far as flowers go, they look relatively manly.”  
  
“They’re nice,” he replied, stealing a glance at her as he took a sip of black coffee. “Thanks.”  
  
Logan gave her hand a quick, reassuring squeeze under the sheets, to which she responded with the flicker of a smile that tugged at the corner of her lips.  
  
The next few minutes were peaceful as they made small talk between bites and sips. It was nothing groundbreaking, just discussing their various plans for the day. Kandi’s mom was on her way to pick Eben up and take him to preschool, and she’d agreed to babysit him that night so the two of them could have some alone time to celebrate their anniversary. They had reservations for dinner at a high-end restaurant downtown, but the remainder of the day was pretty much open to whatever they felt like doing.  
  
“Well, I better go get Eben cleaned up,” she said with a sigh, gathering the dirty dishes as she ushered him out of the bedroom.  
  
Wide awake, Logan cradled the sunflowers in his arms as his bare feet padded against the hardwood floors down the hall and into the living room. For once, he was grateful that his mother-in-law was constantly bringing over different things for the house. Though the useless knick-knacks irritated him, he was glad to have an empty vase on hand. Logan filled the turquoise blue porcelain with water before submerging the flowers in, displaying them on the coffee table.  
  
Kandi was still in the bathroom, probably fighting to scrub all of the syrup from Eben’s face, and while he waited for her, Logan got to work washing the dishes from breakfast. Admittedly, he didn’t help out around the house that often, only because his hectic work schedule kept him away from home so much that every moment he had there seemed like something sacred.  
  
Though he could hear their footsteps, Logan chose not to turn around, grinning to himself as he eavesdropped on their not-so-quiet whispers.  
  
“Now go tell Daddy bye before you go to school.”  
  
Before he knew it, Eben’s arms were wrapped tightly around his thighs, his voice muffled against Logan’s skin. “Bye Daddy, I love you!”  
  
“I love you too, E. Make sure you make me something cool in art class, okay?” he said, leaning down to his son’s level so that their brown eyes locked.  
  
“Okay,” he promised with a toothy grin.  
  
Even in his wildest dreams, Logan never could have imagined himself turning into one of those cheesy dads like he used to find himself cringing over on TV, but there was something in everything about his son that brought that side out in him. He knew that no one was perfect, but it proved to be a difficult task, finding any imperfections in Eben. Even when he was behaving at his worst and throwing the most migraine-inducing temper tantrums, Logan was unable to feel anything less than love for him, and that was more than likely due to the fact that Eben reminded him so much of Kandi. Everyone told them the four-year-old was a spitting image of his father, the same dark, squinty eyes and dimpled smile, and each he hearditt, Logan couldn’t help but think to himself that even though their son possessed more of his features, Eben acted exactly like his mother. He saw so much of Kandi in the boy’s expressions, like the way that Eben was constantly rolling those deep brown eyes or scrunching up his freckled nose.  
  
And Logan was nothing but proud. Eben’s drawings adorned his father’s dressing room, and Logan found himself basically leaping at the chance to show off the latest photos of him on his phone. He could tell it annoyed his friends, but he just couldn’t stop himself. He had this overwhelming urge to share this little person that brought him so much wonder and amazement with the world.  
  
Logan pulled him into another quick hug as Kandi leaned down to plant a kiss on the crown of Eben’s head. As the three of them headed towards the door, she reached down to zip up his Spiderman backpack, leaving a loving pat on his back as she exchanged words with her mother and sent the two of them off.  
  
Once the door was closed, the house felt oddly empty, the silence without Eben seemed deafening.  
  
“Well,” Kandi started with a laugh as she took a seat on the beige sofa. “Looks like we have the place to ourselves.”  
  
He tried to fight back his grin as he spoke. “I know, it feels so weird, almost like I don’t know what to do with myself.”  
  
Honey-brown eyes unabashedly glazed him over. “Maybe you could start by giving me my present?” Her tone took jabs at him, but the softness of her smile gave her away.  
  
“Well aren’t you impatient?” he joked back. “I was gonna wait until tonight to give it to you, but I guess I can go get it now.”  
  
“Thank you.” She gazed up at him from beneath her lashes, and he could feel her stare fixated on him as he headed back towards the bedroom.  
  
Yanking back the fluffy white down comforter, Logan kneeled on the floor, his hand feeling under the bed for the box he’d stuffed away weeks ago. The chocolate box was in the same condition he’d left it in, without any dents or scuffs, the gold ribbon still tied in a perfect bow.  
  
“Uh oh, wonder what this could be,” she said once he handed her the box, biting back her grin. Kandi started to shake it, but once she took note of the gift’s weight, she was content to let the box lie in her lap.  
  
As her fingers tugged the ribbon loose, her eyes flickered towards Logan, trying to gauge his expression before diving headfirst into the package, but his soft smile gave nothing away.  
  
“Don’t worry, I saved the bigger present for dinner,” he tacked on, piquing her interest even more.  
  
She parted through the layers of tissue paper, her smile growing wider and wider as she realized what lay hidden beneath. “Thanks,” she said softly, her gaze drifting back to Logan. “This is perfect.”  
  
In a brushed silver frame was a black and white photograph of the two loves of her life, taken on the stretch of shoreline just outside their house. They looked so adorable in their matching white button-downs and khaki shorts, bright smiles stamped across their faces as the waves crept up the sand only inches away from their feet.  
  
Logan could feel his cheeks grow hot as he took a seat beside her. “I thought you could put it on your desk at work.”  
  
“Oh I will,” she shot back. “Gotta show off my hunky hubby, yeah?”  
  
Kandi reached back, running her fingers through his hair before leaving a kiss on his stubbly jaw.  
  
His response was to give her messy braid a playful tug before weaving his arms around her shoulders and pulling her frame back against his chest, his hold so tight that she couldn’t break free. Even though it frustrated her, she couldn’t deny that it felt good to be in his arms.  
  
“What time did you make our reservation for?” she asked, letting her head rest against his shoulder.  
  
“Seven, why?”  
  
Her eyes tilted up to meet his while her thumb brushed along the back of his hand. “I’m just saying, we have a lot of time to kill before then.” She let her voice trail off suggestively, and Logan couldn’t keep himself from following her gaze back to the hallway.  
  
“Oh really now?” His question was accompanied by the cock of a dark eyebrow. “And what do you suggest we do with all of this free time?”  
  
“Eh, I don’t know. No Eben, no work, and the house is relatively clean. I’d say it’s pretty open to discussion.”  
  
Truthfully, though they made light of the subject, running around after a rambunctious kid all day really wore them down, and their sex life suffered as a result of it. Eben was at that stage where he was constantly waking up in the middle of the night and crawling into bed with them because of his nightmares, and Logan was always on call to check for monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed. Though they’d tried to convince their son that monsters weren’t real, that nothing was out to get him, he still had a way of making it into their bed at least three nights a week.  
  
Sex had become just another thing to mark off the to-do list, but they had both accepted it pretty easily. They didn’t love each other any less, and it wasn’t as if the decline in physical intimacy was ruining their marriage. It was a fair trade-off. Having a family was more important than staying a couple for the rest of their lives, and honestly, it made the alone time that they were able to squeeze in that much more meaningful.  
  
“I don’t know about you” he began, his back sinking into the couch cushions as his grip around her loosened, “but I need a drink.”  
  
Alcohol was another luxury in the Henderson household.  
  
Kandi stood up, rocking on her heels as she eased towards the kitchen. “I think we may have some wine that my brother brought over last time he visited. I’ll go pour us some.”  
  
She ducked into the refrigerator, holding up the unopened bottle of cheap pinot grigio as a sign of victory.  
  
“You know,” Logan called. “This is the one time I’m thankful that your bro’s a little heavy on the booze.”  
  
He took the glass she offered, waiting until she took her seat beside him to take a sip.  
  
“I know, right,” she agreed with a laugh, her gaze lowering at him as she held her glass to her lips.  
  
The following minutes passed in silence as they downed their glasses, both relishing in the sense of calm that seemed to settle over the house. Logan didn’t hesitate to pour them a refill, propping his bare feet up on the coffee table as his eyes wandered to the cornflower blue sky just outside the sliding glass door.  
  
“Maybe we should take this out on the back porch?” Logan suggested as he shifted his weight on the couch. “You know, we hardly ever use it.”  
  
Settled into the corner of the couch, Kandi uttered a soft sigh, the roll of her dark eyes showing her reluctance as she caved in. “You’re right,” she admitted, pushing her loose bangs from her face. “But you just _had_ to wait until I got comfortable, didn’t you?”  
  
He flashed her a grin as he reached for the bottle. “Mhm, you know it.”  
  
The ocean’s breeze greeted them in a rush of salty coolness as they took a seat in the weathered wooden rocking chairs. Logan set the wine bottle on the small square table between them before folding his arms behind his head, the balls of his bare feet pressing against the wood planks beneath them. As he began to slowly rock back and forth, his eyes surveyed the scene spread out in front of him.  
  
It was a picturesque view that the two of them seldom got to enjoy. Aside from building sand castles with Eben and chasing the precocious child across the shore, they rarely got a chance to enjoy the coast just outside their home. Back when they’d first bought the house, this was how Logan imagined life would be like, with the two of them just relaxing on the porch, listening to the waves crash against the shore. Granted, that was back when Eben was just a baby, but still, Logan never would have thought his life would become so hectic.  
  
Even though it wasn’t exactly how he envisioned it would be, he knew he wouldn’t have it any other way.  
  
Kandi had her knees hugged to her chest, her eyes squinting at something he couldn’t pick out in the distance as she swayed in her chair. There was something in her expression, the distant look in her eyes and the way that her lips were mashed together, that he knew she had to be thinking the same thing.  
  
Catching a glimpse of her smile broke his train of thought. “What is it?”  
  
She brushed it off immediately. “Nothing,” she replied as she tried to hide the hint of laughter in her voice, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she tried to bite back the grin that was beginning to overwhelm her features. The more she fought it, the more quickly it rose to the surface. “It’s just, I don’t think that in the, what, three and a half years that we’ve owned this house, we’ve ever actually used that hammock.”  
  
Logan followed her brown-eyed gaze over to the roped hammock draped between the porch banisters. With three patterned throw pillows, a thin yellow blanket, and an ashtray filled with seashells just below it, it was obvious that the hammock was there solely for decorative purposes.  
  
“I don’t know,” Logan chuckled. “I remember at the housewarming party, your mom and your brother drove down, and your brother fucking fell flat on his face trying to lay in that thing. Since then, I’ve pretty much steered clear.”  
  
“If it’s Mark, that tumble’s probably because he downed too many Bud Lights. Not the hammock’s fault.”  
  
Without another mention of it, Kandi hopped out of her chair, rushing over to the hammock and tossing the pillows aside before she dived in. The wind ruffled the hems of her silk romper, and she reached for the throw blanket, yanking it up to her shoulders before turning to face Logan.  
  
“It’s actually not so bad,” she told him. A content smile tugged at her lips as she closed her eyes and curled up beneath the blanket. “You should come join me.”  
  
She patted the small space beside her, and Logan just shook his head. “There’s not enough room!” he sputtered through his own laughter. “If I try to climb in that hammock with you, we’re both falling out.”  
  
“Aw, _come on_ ,” she groaned teasingly as she rolled over onto her back. “Do it for me. After all, it _is_ our anniversary.”  
  
“Oh alright,” he mumbled to himself as he rocked out of his chair.  
  
Once he approached the hammock, she eased out, her gaze flickering between her husband and the mess of ropes swaying between them.  
  
“You should probably get in first,” she explained, trying to mask her own uneasiness with the assertion in her tone. “Then I’ll come in after you.”  
  
A couple seconds passed, but those seconds felt like an eternity as the two of them stared at the hammock. Worst-case scenario, they’d end up tumbling onto the porch below, but all in all, getting a couple splinters or a bruise wasn’t so terrible.  
  
Logan’s movements were as steady as possible, and he could feel Kandi’s stare focused on him as he slowly settled into the hammock, which did nothing to calm his nerves. Successfully stretched out, Logan folded his arms behind his head, offering Kandi a smirk as he waited for her to join him.  
  
She wasn’t as hesitant as he was, her motions more jerky and clumsy, but she squeezed in beside him just fine. One of her legs was slung across his hips as she clutched his chest for stability, her head resting against his shoulder.  
  
“You were right, this is pretty comfy,” he admitted, glancing down at her as she pulled the blanket up around them.  
  
“I told you so,” she said, sticking the tip of her tongue out at him. “God, you’re so warm.”  
  
She snuggled up closer to him, her cheek resting against his chest as her eyes stared across the length of the porch.  
  
“ _I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day_ ,” she sang quietly, her voice muffled as she pressed her forehead against his chest.  
  
The cue wasn’t lost on Logan, quick to pick up where she’d left off. “ _When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May._ ”  
  
“ _Well, I’d guess you’d say…_ ”  
  
“ _What could make me feel this way._ ”  
  
“ _My girl_.”  
  
“ _My girl_.”  
  
“ _My girl_.”  
  
“ _Talkin’ ‘bout my girl_ ,” Logan sang in an overdone baritone.  
  
“ _My girl!_ ” she finished off, giving his arm a quick squeeze. “It’s official, we should form one of those traveling family bands.”  
  
He couldn’t help but laugh. No matter how much their lives had changed since they’d first started dating, she was still the same old Kandi. “You’re ridiculous. You know that, right?”  
  
“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” she shot back, and he could feel her smile against his skin.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he mumbled in response, but his hold around her tightened.  
  
The wind rocked the hammock gently back and forth, and with his eyes closed, Logan could hear the waves break against the shore, the steady, churning crash like a lullaby as he allowed his muscles to relax. He could feel Kandi fingers brushing lightly over his hand as she toyed with his fingers, her thumb stroking along the polished gold wedding band.  
  
“It’s hard to believe that it’s only been three years,” she murmured before unweaving her hand from his, her palm coming to rest against his sternum.  
  
“I know,” he mumbled in agreement.  
  
“Like, Eben’s only four, but it’s hard for me to remember a time before we had him, if that makes any sense,” she said softly with a laugh. “It just feels like it’s been so much longer than that.”  
  
Logan sighed. “I get what you mean, but I don’t know if the fact that it feels like it’s been like this for so long is a good thing or a bad thing.”  
  
Kandi laughed to herself, her breath warm against his skin. “I think it’s a good thing. I mean, it was fun when it was just you and me, but I wouldn’t say that I miss it.”  
  
Logan was silent for a moment, unsure if he should voice his thoughts. “Yeah, I don’t _miss_ it, but I do miss certain _aspects_ of it,” he said, an edge of laughter to his voice as he stared at the whitewashed wood above them.  
  
“Like lazy days?” she offered, looking up at him.  
  
“I was thinking more along the lines of how the shower used to be fun,” he said, allowing his voice to trail suggestively as his eyes tilted upward.  
  
“Instead of being basically the only option.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
Kandi shifted onto her stomach, her chin resting on his chest as she looked up at him. She took a moment to blow a wispy bang from her eyes before she spoke. “Actually, I’ve always kinda liked the shower. Just sayin’.”  
  
He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as he watched her lips purse into a smirk and her eyebrows rise. “Hmm, as far as secret spots go, I think I like the car better. Leather seats are more my thing.”  
  
“You _would_ say that.”  
  
“But this is nice too. I don’t remember the last time we just hung out together. Plus, we got a sweet breeze going on, some nice hammock action. It’s all pretty chill.” His lips curved into a smile as he slowly folded his arms behind his head.  
  
A few minutes passed in contemplative silence, the two of them perfectly content as they listened to the lull of the sea. The soft pressure of her frame against his, the warmth of her breath as it came in waves against his skin, it all felt so familiar. Kandi had a tendency of falling asleep on his chest, one leg slung haphazardly over his hips, but his brain was usually too preoccupied with work or Eben for him to take notice of how much those simple gestures comforted him.  
  
“You know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what we talked about before,” she said softly, letting her fingers tiptoe up his chest. “About having another baby?”  
  
“Mhm,” he prompted as he lazily twirled a lock of her hair around his middle finger.  
  
“Well, I was thinking, since Eben’s about to start kindergarten and everything, maybe it’s time for us to try again.”  
  
They had tried to have another child once they felt like their lives had settled down. Eben was two at the time, they’d been living in the house for a year and a half, and Logan had just gotten a role on a new and promising television crime drama. Both of them had always wanted a larger family, and for once, the timing seemed right, but they’d tried to get pregnant for months, and nothing had come of it. Logan just wasn’t sure he was ready to risk that feeling of helpless disappointment again. He was more in the mindset of _if it happened, it happened._  
  
But there was an indescribable sense of longing buried beneath her irises, and he knew that he’d never be able to voice his doubts without shattering the hope she still clung to.  
  
He let his hand linger along the small of her back. “I’d like Eben to have a little brother or sister, trust me, I really would, but I don’t want it to be like last time. All that planning and all those ovulation tests or whatever, it’s too much, K.”  
  
“Yeah,” she mumbled, clutching to him even more tightly for some sort of reassurance.  
  
“All that stress and pressure can’t be good for us anyway.” Though his words were heavy with uncertainty, he offered her a warm smile, weaving his arms around her as the hammock swayed.  
  
With her face nestled against his chest and her stare hidden from his view, he knew she was that little girl again, the same little girl in countless photographs that held so tightly to her mother from that fear of the unknown and all-too-aware of her own vulnerability. Logan rarely saw that same fragileness in his wife, but this was one of the few topics that brought it out in her. He hurt because he knew there was nothing he could do to make it okay, that this was one thing that he couldn’t seem to give her.  
  
His lips brushed against the top of her head, his palm rubbing the space between her shoulder blades as he murmured into her hair. “Don’t be sad, sweetie. After all, it is still our anniversary.”  
  
Kandi glanced up at him, giving him the biggest grin she could manage. “Three years!”  
  
He gave her a quick kiss, and as she pulled away, he couldn’t help but notice how her gaze lingered on him a little longer than usual.  
  
“What is it?”  
  
She immediately looked away, staring at her fingers between them while the blood slowly rose to her cheeks. “Nothing, you just always seem to know the right words to say.”  
  
“All just another part of the job.”  
  
As his light laughter came to a close, Logan was suddenly aware of just how close they were. Shakily, he propped himself up to meet her in a kiss, and although he was better at expressing himself through words and phrases, her emotions shown through wholeheartedly in her gestures. Her fingertips dug into his scalp, clutching him to her as if he were the most valuable object in the world as her lips burned against his, her appreciation laced with her own underlying desire. He could feel her as she tried to fight it, struggling to keep each movement tender as their lips blended together. She was met with an equal fervor as Logan teetered on that tightrope, his lips providing the right amount of force to be passionate without becoming overwhelming or demanding.  
  
Her touch grazed his temples as her hands cupped his jaw, subtly easing him closer to her as her back arched, pressing her hips into his. The silk seemed to glide against his cotton boxers with ease, but it was a friction he hadn’t felt in so long that just the slightest hint sent him over the edge.  
  
Reluctant as ever, Logan broke away from the kiss, his eyes drifting down her body as he cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously, hammock?”  
  
Her shoulders shrugged. “Why not?”  
  
He had to admit that he enjoyed catching a glimpse of her old, inhibited self, and though a dozen reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this here and now hung from the tip of his tongue, Logan couldn’t bring himself to offer up any of them. Instead of protesting, he pressed his lips into the hollow just below her jawbone. The earthy yet feminine scent of her perfume flooded his nostrils. Notes of honeysuckle, sandalwood, and vanilla buzzed around in his brain, but he couldn’t decipher each individual scent. All he knew was that the scent of her skin reminded him of being home.  
  
His lips slowly dragged across stretches of fair skin, searching for the spot where her pulse was at its strongest. He could feel her heartbeat quicken with each patch of flesh his lips enveloped as she anticipated his next move, but for once, he was unbelievably consistent. There were no playful nips, no faint bruises, only the gentle yet firm pressure of his lips against her skin.  
  
Her touch coursed down the bare skin of his back, her fingertips digging into his flesh as his kisses ventured further. While his lips traced the fawn freckles across her shoulder, Logan wound the flimsy strap of her romper around his finger, letting the silk glide across her skin as he eased it down.  
  
Lips hovered along her collarbone, deep eyes looking up to her before he could continue. With her eyes closed and her lips parted, she lent him the catalyst he needed. His fingertips brushed down her chest, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake as he inched the black lace neckline down. His lips traced his touch, leaving a lingering kiss along her sternum as her legs wove around his waist. Logan could feel her knees graze his sides, but he hadn’t noticed her hand dip in between them until her fingers had slipped through the slit in his boxers. His lower lip trembled against her skin as her fingers lightly trailed down the length of his cock, curling around the shaft as her thumb stroked down the side.  
  
Logan denied himself the instant gratification, pretending not to notice her grip tighten as he freed the silk from his grasp, letting the magenta fabric fall to her hips. His fingers raced up her ribcage, hands cupping her breasts as she leaned in to kiss his neck. He felt her hips collide with his as he left a trail of scattered kisses across her chest, the warmth of his lips curling around the pert flesh enough to coerce an achy murmur past her lips. The soft flicker of his tongue made her shudder, her thighs quivering suddenly around his pelvis as she grasped at his shoulders.  
  
Just as he could feel her begin to become nothing more than putty in his grip, Kandi pulled away, a coy smile forming on her lips as her thumbs hooked into the waistband of her romper. Logan tried to keep his eyes glued to whitewashed wood above him, struggling to hold in his laughter as he watched her shakily try to undress in his periphery.  
  
“Don’t laugh,” she sputtered through her own hushed giggles. “This is really hard.”  
  
“Obviously _someone_ didn’t think the whole hammock thing through.”  
  
She held onto him for balance as she pulled a leg free. “I was trying to be spontaneous.”  
  
Before he knew it, she was back in his arms again, and he was smiling against her lips. Reaching for the thin yellow cotton, Logan tugged the blanket up to her waist, letting his hand ease up her back as she kissed him. His fingertips meandered down her back, tracing light patterns into her skin before his touch came to a halt along her hips. He grasped the curve of her hips, slowly guiding her down on him as her fingertips dug into his shoulders.  
  
Neither of them was in much of a rush to get things over with, and the slow roll of their hips mirrored the rhythmic churn of the tide in the distance. Although every curve of her frame and every mole that stood out against her milky complexion were as familiar to him as his favorite song, he was still eager to explore every inch of her: toying with the loose strands from her braid, caressing the supple flesh along the back of her thigh. He knew Kandi felt the same as he did; her kisses traversed his neck and jaw, her hands running through his hair and down his chest.  
  
With his eyes closed, he could hear her voice in his ear, the labored breaths, desperate noises, and hushed “I love you”s the perfect accompaniment to the collision of their hips. What they had was slow burning, and with each steady movement, the desire intensified. Logan’s head lolled back into the pillows, his hips rising up to meet hers as his lungs forced out shaky pants. He could feel her breath come in waves against his neck, hot and arrhythmic as she struggled to keep up the pace. Her hips circled him smoothly, and he immediately bucked up to meet her, a desperate groan hollowing out his throat in the motion. With her lips pressed against his, she repeated the movement, this time more slowly, and Logan felt the muscles in his stomach clench in response.  
  
All-too-aware that he was nearing his peak, Logan let a hand stray between their two bodies, reaching down to massage her in time with his wavering thrusts. He felt her tighten around him just in time, forcing out one last buck of his hips before both of their bodies stilled with exhaustion.  
  
As Kandi curled up against his chest, his arm snug around her shoulders, Logan’s gaze shifted up towards the sky. As the sun became hidden by the clouds, the salty sea breeze became that much more noticeable. When he felt the shivers begin to course through her body, Logan pulled the blanket up over her shoulders, weaving his arms around her and holding her close.  
  
Her eyes were soft as she looked up at him appreciatively, the first few hints of a smile forming across her lips. “Don’t worry, you’re still my sunshine.”


End file.
